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THE DISTRIBUTION OF BODY WATER AND ELECTROLYTES IN ADRENAL INSUFFICIENCY 1

1938; American Society for Clinical Investigation; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1172/jci100931

1558-8238

Harold E. Harrison, Daniel C. Darrow,

Diet and metabolism studies

The mode of action of the hormone of the adrenal cortex necessary for life has been the subject of much discussion.Among the prominent hypotheses for explaining the symptoms of adrenal cortical insufficiency are loss of sodium and chloride with accompanying changes in the distribution of body water (1, 2, 3); toxic effects of potassium (4, 5, 6, 7); disturbance in the dis- tribution of body water not clearly related to loss of sodium or retention of potassium (8); and disturbances in metabolism or carbohydrate (9).Since it seems, at present, bootless to attempt to relate the anomalies in carbohydrate metabolism to the disturbances in metabolism of water and electrolyte, this aspect of the function of the adrenal cortex will not be discussed.The present investigation was undertaken to determine by tis- sue analyses the actual distribution of water and electrolyte in the tissues of adrenalectomized rats in relation to the toxic action of potassium and the therapeutic effect of sodium salts. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDUREHealthy male albino rats weighing approximately 200 grams were adrenalectomized under ether anesthesia via the usual lumbar route.The majority of the animals were fed a low potassium diet of the following composi- tion: lactalbumin 15 per cent, sucrose 25 per cent, dextrin 32 per cent, crisco 22 per cent, cod liver oil 1 per cent, yeast powder 2 per cent, bone ash 2 per cent and NaCl 1 per cent.One group of animals was fed a ration con- taining 1.5 grams of K,HPO, per 100 grams of the above diet.Diet 1 on analysis, was found to contain 0.03 per cent potassium whereas Diet 2 contained 0.7 per cent po- tassium.The animals were given distilled water, and the food and water intakes were measured daily.The adrenalectomized animals were divided into groups and treated as follows.The animals of the first group were sacrificed when symptoms of severe adrenal insufficiency were manifest.The time of onset of symptoms was exceedingly variable on Diet 1 so that the rats could not be sacrificed at stated intervals after operation if comparable results were to be obtained.The symp-